"We're going to have a couple of really good ones, in both cars and trucks," Mark Reuss said of the diesel offerings.

GM sells a Chevrolet Cruze with a 2.0-liter, four-cylinder diesel engine and plans to offer a new 1.6-liter diesel on the next-generation Cruze, due next year. Reuss' comment at the Los Angeles Auto Show implies that GM plans at least one more diesel car, but he didn't specify nameplates or brands.

He thinks diesel demand among truck buyers won't be affected by the fallout from VW's admission in September that it deceived regulators with devices that masked the extent of diesel emissions on its 2.0-liter TDI engines.

Reuss said GM won't seek to build a diesel base as large as that of VW, which counts on diesels for about a quarter of its U.S. sales.

"We won't turn a switch on and have the footprint that VW has built on diesel in this country," he said. "That ain't gonna happen."